population

English

Etymology

From Late Latin populatio (“a people, multitude”), as if a noun of action from Classical Latin populus.

Pronunciation

• IPA: /pɒpjuːleɪʃən/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪʃən

Noun

population (plural populations)

1. The people living within a political or geographical boundary

   The population of New Jersey will not stand for this!

2. A count of the number of residents within a political or geographical boundary such as a town, a nation or the world

   The town’s population is only 243.

3. (biology) A collection of organisms of a particular species, sharing a particular characteristic of interest, most often that of living in a given area

   A seasonal migration annually changes the populations in two or more biotopes drastically, many twice in opposite senses

4. (statistics) A group of units (persons, objects, or other items) enumerated in a census or from which a sample is drawn
   • 1883, Francis Galton et al., Final Report of the Anthropometric Committee, Report of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, p. 269.

     ...it is possible it [the Anglo-Saxon race] might stand second to the Scandinavian countries [in average height] if a fair sample of their population were obtained.

5. (computing) The act of filling initially empty items in a collection.

   John clicked the Search button and waited for the population of the list to complete.

Derived terms

• population explosion
• population growth

Related terms

• popular
• populate
• populous

Translations

all people living within a political or geographical boundary

Afrikaans: bevolking (af) Albanian: popullsisë (sq) f. Arabic: سُكّان (ar) (sukkaan) m. Belarusian: насельніцтва (be) (nasél'nictva) n. Bulgarian: население (bg) (naselénie) n. Catalan: població (ca) f. Chinese: Mandarin: 人口 (cmn) (rénkǒu) Czech: populace (cs) f., obyvatelstvo (cs) n. Danish: befolkning (da) c. Dutch: bevolking (nl) f. Esperanto: loĝantaro (eo) Estonian: elanikkond (et), rahvastik (et) Finnish: väestö (fi) French: population (fr) f. Galician: poboación (gl) f. German: Bevölkerung (de) f. Hebrew: אוכלוסייה (he) (okhlusiyá) f., אוכלוסין \ אֻכְלוּסִין (he) (ukhlusín) m. pl. Hindi: जनसंख्या (hi) (jansaṅkhyā) m. Hungarian: lakosság (hu)

Indonesian: populasi (id) Italian: popolazione (it) f. Japanese: 人口 (ja) (じんこう, jinkō) Khmer: ប្រជាភិវឌ្ឍន៍ (km) (pror jea phi vaut) Korean: 인구 (ko) (ingu) (人口 (ko)) Ladino: poblasyon, פובלאסיון (poblasyon) Luxembourgish: Bevëlkerung (lb) Malayalam: ജനസംഖ്യ (janasamkhya) Persian: جمعیت (fa) Polish: ludność (pl) f. Portuguese: população (pt) f. Romanian: populație (ro) f. Russian: население (ru) (naselénije) n. Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: становништво (sh) n. Roman: stanovništvo (sh) n. Spanish: población (es) f. Swedish: befolkning (sv) c., population (sv) c. Thai: ประชากร (th) (bpra chaa gaawn) Ukrainian: населення (uk) (nasélennja) n. Vietnamese: dân số (vi)

biology: collection of organisms

Dutch: populatie (nl), bevolking (nl) Estonian: populatsioon (et), asurkond (et) French: population (fr) f. German: Population (de) f. Hebrew: אוכלוסיה (he) (okhlusiyá) f., אוכלוסין \ אֻכְלוּסִין (he) (ukhlusín) m. pl.

Khmer: ប្រជាភិវឌ្ឍន៍ (km) (pror jea phi vaut) Russian: популяция (ru) (populjácija) f. Swedish: population (sv) c.

number of residents in a given area

Arabic: سكانية (sakaníya) f. Chinese: Mandarin: 人口 (cmn) (rénkǒu) Dutch: bevolking (nl), inwonertal (nl) n. Estonian: rahvaarv (et), elanike arv (et) Faroese: fólkatal (fo) n. Finnish: asukasluku (fi), väkiluku (fi) German: Bevölkerungszahl (de) f., Einwohnerzahl (de) f.

Hebrew: אוכלוסיה (he) (okhlusiyá) f., אוכלוסין \ אֻכְלוּסִין (he) (ukhlusín) m. pl. Japanese: 人口 (じんこう, jinkō) Malayalam: ജനസംഖ്യ (janasamkhya) Russian: население (ru) (naselénije) n. Spanish: población (es) f. Swedish: befolkning (sv) c., population (sv) c., invånarantal (sv) n.

statistics: greater group of units from which a sample can be drawn

Dutch: populatie (nl) f. Estonian: üldkogum (et), populatsioon (et)

Icelandic: þýði (is) n., hópur (is) m., stofn (is) m., (uncommon) lýður (is) m. Swedish: population (sv)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.

Translations to be checked

Afrikaans: bevolking Hindi: आबादी (hi) (ābādi)

Korean: 인구 (ko) (ingu) Marathi: लोकसंख्या (loksankhyā)

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French

Etymology

Borrowed from Late Latin populatio, populationis, from Latin populus.

Pronunciation

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

population f. (plural populations)

1. A population

Related terms

• populaire
• populeux